Sorry I haven’t blogged for a while; caught up with a lot of different tasks the past month or so. Maybe I can take this opportunity to summarize and update the CityU community on some recent IT developments at CityU.
- Firstly, everyone is probably aware that MS Windows 7 is now available in all lecture theatres and classrooms. So far, it has been working fine.
- We have also been enhancing and upgrading our wireless capabilities, both in coverage and support for newer standards. Wireless is now also available to alumni as well.
- We have been modernizing AIMS look-and-feel, improving usability, and extending browser support for Google Chrome and Firefox. Keep an eye out for further enhancements over the summer.
- We have been integrating BlackBoard with Google Apps as a new building block. Students can then share and collaborate on documents via Google docs as well as submit to Bb. We will continue to explore new ways to enhance our e-learning environment.
- We have been continuing with EBS service improvements, such as batching emails and sending them out 3 times a day only. In addition, we are now experimenting with consolidating EBS emails into one message only. Soon, we will have a Web-based version to further reduce email clutter.
- Email and productivity tool support will be greatly further enhanced soon with the introduction of MS Live and Google Apps for all staffs and students. Everyone gets free email from MS and Google with CityU domain and the use of a collection of Web 2.0 tools from MS Live and Google Apps.
- We have purchased a Google Search Appliance box to create our Intranet search portal. CityU content will be a lot easier to find once our new search portal is deployed. The box searches not only our Intranet web pages, but potentially file systems and document management systems.
- This semester, we have re-started our Student Computer Literacy Programme (SCLP) to help students strengthen their knowledge of IT tools. Please send me a suggestion if you can think of additional courses for us to offer.
- More and more departments and units are now using social media to communicate and share information with students/alumni. We are putting up a directory to list all official use of Web 2.0 social media in CityU to further improve community participation.
Hope you like these new features. I love to hear from you!
